Sunday, February 17, 2008

What do Iowans think about ... that word?

Today an Iowa geocacher submitted a geocache with the word "sucks" in it. I was born and raised in Iowa, and I was taught that this word is not used by polite people in public settings. I asked the geocacher to change the name of his cache, which he did. (Thank you.)

Then I got to thinking about it and I checked to see how many other geocaches are out there with that word in their names. Turns out there are quite a few. So in the interests of fairness, I wrote to the geocacher and told him he could change the name back if he wanted to. I added this note: "But I hope you don't."

Iowans, what do you think? Is "sucks" an offensive word we want to keep out of our geocache names, or does it not bother you at all? I'd really like to know.

8 comments:

Hmm. You're right, it's not a polite word. In fact, if you think of its origin, it's really quite offensive. It has made its way into the common language today, and I too use it all to freely. This game is for everyone - even kids - and hopefully no one will be offended by keeping it family-friendly. I like the way you've handled this one. I'm all for a wholesome Iowa.

I don't like it, especially since this is considered a family-friendly sport. That said, I don't believe it really carries the same connotation for others (younger) than us, because the meaning has kind of degraded to a synonym for "stinks" without reference to the word's origin. It got me thinking about words that are commonly used now by even older adults that had their origin as jargon from the 60s culture some of us passed through:) Words like "hassle," "turned on," "turned me on to...," "narked on," all emanated from the drug culture of that time, and were probably as offensive to our parents, but are as common as Beatle tunes used as Muzak in elevators nowadays. It's strange though. A couple of days ago, I hesitated with a potential cache name, thinking that "Back At Ya,' Plumberbutt" was too informal for a title! Yikes, little did I know what was to come... - BGT

I've told my students many times that there is no such thing as suck. There's push and pull but no suck. You can't suck air. How could you do that? It would come apart the second you, well, tried to suck it up. You can't pull it either. So how can you move it? You can create a low pressure area and the greater pressure around that PUSHES the material up the straw or into the shop-vac or whatever.

I think this word is really inpolite and I DO NOT like hearing it.. They might as well say the F word. Which I really DON'T LIKE~!Call me old fashion But I feel if you can't say words in front of your Grandma than you shouldn't say it.. my grandma is 100 years old right now. This generation grew up with integrity, truth, honesty and manners. That is what we need to get back into for our daily lives. We are missing out, not teaching our children about these character qualities. Being Honest,Trustworthy,Loving,Patience,Kindness,Goodness,Faithfulness,Joy and Self-Control. Adults need to be role models for the generations that are coming in the future

What others are saying about this blog

...it's interesting to know how people who approve caches think. Glad I came across your blog and I'll be watching for more!

Posted by justjohn, June 18, 2008:

I've just begun my foray into Geocaching here in Okinawa, Japan, and I was looking for a blog like this to help me.Your tips include things that I never would have thought of, even after reading the FAQ on geocaching.com Thanks again!

About Me

I've been geocaching since Feb. 2001, and I've been a reviewer since 2003. As a reviewer, I started out using the ID WGA2, but other reviewers have since used that ID for approving caches in Wisconsin so I started a new ID (IowaAdmin) in July 2005. My "regular" IDs are kbraband (for solo geocaching) and active2gether (for caches I find with my wife). While some reviewers believe in hiding their true identities, I don't do that. I believe that by working together with fellow geocachers to get caches approved according to the geocaching.com guidelines in a cordial and consistent manner, there should be no reason to keep my ID secret.